Category: Kansas Legislature

Legislative Committee anticipates 2022

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Opinion

by Murrel Bland

The Legislative Committee of the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce is looking ahead to the 2022 session of the Kansas Legislature in developing its legislative agenda.

About 25 members of the committee met Friday, Nov. 12, via Zoom.

The agenda will have many of the same issues as the legislative agenda for 2021 had, according to Mike Smallwood, the Legislative Committee chairman.

Those issues include support for continuing STAR bonds—a financing mechanism which uses sales tax revenue for major developments such as the Legends Outlet; streamlining of the permit process at the Unified Government; equitable rates for storm water control; consistent property tax that would use a several-year valuation average; high-quality education that would provide the necessary work force; expanded Medicaid for the underserved population; expanded gaming that would include sports wagering; lowering the sales tax on food; and origin-based sales tax.

The Kansas Legislature, which is Republican-dominated, has petitioned the Democrat Governor Laura Kelly to call a special session of the Legislature, starting Monday, Nov. 22. The Republicans are alleging that President Joe Biden is overreaching his administration’s authority in forcing Kansans to choose between their personal beliefs and their livelihoods.

The hope is that the session will pass two bills and be completed with its work before Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 25. Two bills have been proposed. One would prohibit employers from questioning the sincerity of a worker’s religious beliefs or medical needs; the other would provide unemployment compensation for workers who would be fired for refusing to get vaccinated.

State Rep. Pam Horton Curtis, a Democrat from the eastern part of Wyandotte County, said she doesn’t feel the special session is necessary.

It would appear that there may be a good chance that the sales tax on food could be removed. Republican and Democrat leaders say they would support the removal. A controlling factor is that the state has about a $1.3 billion surplus. Estimates are that revenue is expected to be about $10.96 billion as of July 1 with an ending balance of $2.89 billion. The governor said although there is enough money to take the tax off food, there is not enough revenue to bundle it with other tax cuts.

One of the issues will be the redistricting of congressional and state districts. The hope is that it can be done early in the legislative session so not to interfere with other legislative matters.

Murrel Bland is the past editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is executive director of Business West.

Kansas Republicans force special session to deal with federal vaccine mandates

by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Republican leaders announced Thursday they had gathered the signatures necessary to force a special session for the week of Thanksgiving to respond to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Every Republican in both the Senate and House signed the petition, providing the two-thirds needed in each chamber. Leadership said they would deliver the petitions to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday.

The special session will start Nov. 22.

“This is a historic moment as the Legislature calls itself back into a special session for the first time in the history of our state,” House Republicans said in a statement. “This unprecedented action is necessitated by equally unprecedented actions from the Biden administration that enacted these mandates unilaterally, without respecting the constitutional law making power reserved for Congress. Never before has the federal government forced Kansans to choose between their personal beliefs and their livelihoods.”

Kelly, who is seeking re-election, opposes the federal mandates. Her likely opponent in next year’s election, Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, has joined three separate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of federal mandates.

A special committee on “government overreach” held two days of hearings last month to gather public input on the mandates, limiting comments to those who oppose them. The hearings were rife with false information about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, and Holocaust comparisons. Dissenting views were limited to written testimony that hasn’t been made public.

Earlier this week, the committee received an update on various legal challenges to orders and rules that require federal workers, as well as employees of federal contractors, large businesses and Medicaid and Medicare providers, to be vaccinated. Employees of private businesses would have the alternate option of weekly testing. All of the mandates provide exemptions for medical needs, disabilities and sincerely held religious beliefs.

The committee will hold hearings Friday on two bills drafted by Senate President Ty Masterson. One would prohibit employers from questioning the sincerity of a worker’s religious beliefs or medical needs, and the other would provide unemployment aid to individuals who are fired for refusing to get vaccinated.

Masterson said the intent is to pass both laws during the special session.

“The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed — that’s a part of our Kansas Constitution,” Masterson said. “It’s also why we have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion, and that includes religious tests where one’s beliefs are scrutinized, either by the government or an employer.

“We’re not going to let the Biden administration force businesses to play God or doctor and determine whether a religious or medical exemption is valid or not. We’re going to trust individual Kansans.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2021/11/11/kansas-republicans-force-special-session-to-deal-with-federal-vaccine-mandates/

Kansas state Rep. Aaron Coleman pleads not guilty to domestic violence charge

Johnson County District Judge James Phelan agreed to release Coleman from the Johnson County jail on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond.

by Dan Margolies, KCUR and Kansas News Service

Kansas Rep. Aaron Coleman entered a plea of not guilty to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in Johnson County District Court on Monday.

The first-term Democrat was accused in a criminal complaint of a single count of causing bodily harm to, or having physical contact with, a family member. Although not identified in the complaint, it appears the family member was his brother.

Coleman did not appear at his arraignment, which was conducted via Zoom. His attorney, David Bell, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf. At Bell’s request, Johnson County District Judge James Phelan agreed to release Coleman from the Johnson County jail on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond.

Phelan also ordered Coleman to appear for a Dec. 22 hearing on the court’s diversion docket. The docket is intended to give offenders who commit a relatively minor offense a second chance. Phelan also ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Coleman, 21, was arrested Saturday night and booked into the Johnson County jail in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Both Coleman’s brother and grandfather, who were present via Zoom at Monday’s arraignment, told Phelan that they were not afraid of Coleman and were fine having contact with him after his release from jail. Phelan, however, ordered Coleman not to have contact with his brother or grandfather for the first 72 hours after his release.

The incident for which Coleman was arrested took place at his grandfather’s house. No details about what happened emerged at the arraignment, but the criminal complaint signed by Assistant District Attorney Andrew J. Jennings lists as witnesses “Shawnee Mission medical personnel,” suggesting that the incident required medical intervention.

Coleman has a history of misconduct and making alleged threats against women. Soon after he won an upset primary victory in 2020 against Rep. Stan Frownfelter and went on to win the general election for House District 37, which includes parts of Kansas City, Kansas, he faced calls for his ouster. A legislative probe earlier this year resulted in an informal letter of warning.

Last month, the Kansas Department of Labor warned him to stay away from the agency’s headquarters after it said he tried to get into parts of the building restricted to agency employees.

Coleman once threatened to shoot a high school student and has admitted to online bullying and leaking revenge porn when he was a middle-school student. An ex-girlfriend has accused him of slapping and choking her, and he was the subject of a temporary no-contact order issued by a Wyandotte County judge last year after Frownfelter’s campaign manager accused him of harassment. The order was dismissed after Coleman and the campaign manager came to an agreement.

The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.

Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-11-01/kansas-state-rep-aaron-coleman-of-kansas-city-kansas-pleads-not-guilty-to-domestic-violence-charge.